Which option for best read/write speed?

Aside from the "hassle" of having an external drive vs something that is a more elegant solution - which option - SD card (UHS3/Class 10) or something like the SanDisk Extreme 500 120GB External USB 3 drive will net me the fastest read AND write speeds on the latest MacBook Air?

Just got the Samsung Pro+ microSD card - but would consider exchanging it for the other option if it's a better solution. Especially since I will be putting both photos and a VM on the external drive.

SSD will definitely be much faster. Not familiar with that unit, but I have two Samsung T3 external USB 3.0 SSD's (500gb and 1tb). Speed is the same on both, very happy with them. I use the 500 as a boot drive for a Mini and the 1tb as a media drive for video editing. They also make a 256gb version. There have been a few recent threads on external ssd's in other forums here, and it appears that these speeds are about as good as you can do with any of the current external USB SSD's.

SSD will definitely be much faster. Not familiar with that unit, but I have two Samsung T3 external USB 3.0 SSD's (500gb and 1tb). Speed is the same on both, very happy with them. I use the 500 as a boot drive for a Mini and the 1tb as a media drive for video editing. They also make a 256gb version. There have been a few recent threads on external ssd's in other forums here, and it appears that these speeds are about as good as you can do with any of the current external USB SSD's.

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Thanks. I bought the Samsung T3 250GB - was on sale via Amazon Prime Now for $99. Not bad. Just a little more than I paid for the 128gb microSD which will now be going back. Speed difference is incredible and even though it's an external drive vs using the slot - it's super light/small/portable.

hi I believe and I dont know; that sd cards are meant for such things including writing music to the sd card and then plugging it into a compatible source (which requires in addition to the sd card an ereader) and primarily; most of all; for sharing it with people because its convenient . Of course people arent interested in sharing mixtapes most of the time which makes the value of doing that unfortunately dubiou-s .

I've read mixed reviews - many saying they had issues with that SSD... I can always do that later on... happy with my externals SSD purchase for now (and 1/3rd the cost of that one)

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I've been owing the 240GB upgrade from OWC for some time and never encountered any issues myself. However, this was a different series, for my 2011 model. So results may vary.
And yes, you're absolutely correct. Each other option than upgrading the internal ssd is definitely cheaper.

Given the R/W speeds and cost - I went with the SSD. Love the performance.

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SSD was the obvious and the right choice.
I wouldn't use HDDs for anything but special purposes and sd cards for cameras.

Unless for some reason you move around tons of data (e.g. video) R/W speeds are irrelevant.

The main reason SSDs enhance system performance is their low latency which is caused by the NAND and NAND controller.

SD cards and thumbdrives are technically solid state but have no sophisticated NAND controller. (there are rare and expensive exceptions)
That's why they do not enhance system responsiveness like an SSD if you try to run an OS from them.

Another good example of this is the iPhone 6s and 7 vs other smartphones.
These newer iPhones are more responsive and perform overall better even though on paper the specs are inferior.
What almost nobody knows: Apples hardware department develops customized controllers for the NAND in their devices.
This doesn't show up on any specsheet.
And this is why iPhones perform so well.

You can buy an Apple stick on eBay for less, and then sell your old stick to make up a good portion of the cost.

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Sure, that's also a viable option. Though both times when I upgraded my 2011 model I couldn't find any original Apple ones on eBay. Also these would of course be used ones, especially for SSDs the price difference would have to be significant for me to consider buying used. These things have limited read/write cycles and it's hard to say what is the actual condition before buying.
Also if you'd like to max out the MBA to 1TB, I think there still is no such configuration directly from Apple, so also no Apple 2nd hand SSD bars would be on eBay.

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